May 20, 2005

Standing Order 81.1(2) - Closure

When the excitement of election night passes the reality will sink in that Gordon Campbell has almost as much power as he did with 77 MLAs. Two new limits to his power have been introduced as a result of the election. First, backbenchers in the government caucus can command more attention because it only takes seven voting with the Opposition to defeat the government; Interior MLAs will have a regional caucus that can bring that much power to bear. Second, the Opposition can prevent the government from introducing a Bill and having it become law in just two days. Other than that the power of the Opposition is limited to its ability to reason and to marshal public opinion.

Prior to 2001 the Official Opposition could talk a Bill to death by using so much legislative time that the government might withdraw legislation, perhaps putting it over to another session. Campbell introduced both a fixed legislative calendar and routine time allocation (closure).

Rookie MLAs, as well as those first elected in 2001 who have never faced more than two opposition members, will have a lot to learn about how the legislature functions. The rule book, or Standing Orders, is one of the first things to be adopted by the new legislature. With its working majority of a dozen members the Campbell government has the power to unilaterally set the rules. One of the first tests of whether Gordon Campbell has learned anything and is changing his style will be whether he and his house leader can reach agreement with the Official Opposition so that the Standing Orders are adopted, and applied, with unanimous support.

On August 27, 2001, the Campbell government introduced amendments to the Standing Orders which included Standing Order 81.1:

Standing Order 81.1(2) means that the government can simply announce that a Bill is going to pass and it can then move a motion to limit further debate on that Bill. The most Draconian feature of that power is that the motion to limit debate on a Bill is not debatable.

Despite its 77-2 majority the Campbell government was quick to use and abuse its power to limit debate. On May 13th, 2002, in the midst of debate on controversial welfare legislation, the government introduced three pieces of legislation that the BC Federation of Labour called an employer bill of rights. WCB benefits were cut, labour standards were lowered and it was made easier for employers to resist union organizing. On May 15th the government house leader, Gary Collins, announced that those Bills and seven others including the welfare legislation would be considered to be "government business". That meant that closure, assigning time limits for debate, would be used to pass the Bills by the date scheduled for adjournment, May 30th.

Even with over 30 MLAs the Official Opposition will not be able to do its job of holding the government accountable in the legislature, reasoning through legislation and allowing time for public opinion to form, if controversial legislation is introduced a few days before the date scheduled for adjournment and closure is invoked immediately thereafter. It will be a serious mistake if the Campbell government abuses that power. The legislative calendar is a good thing and it is reasonable for the parties to work together to allocate time so that legislative business gets conducted efficiently. That breaks down if the government refuses to answer questions, shows disrespect for the Opposition and allows insufficient time for debate on controversial legislation. A caucus of more than 30 Opposition MLAs is capable of working outside the legislature by taking an issue to editorial boards, talk shows and community halls throughout the province. How the Campbell government uses or abuses its power may become one of the most important issues to watch over the life of BC's Thirty-eighth Parliament.